MALAYA: Siege's End

In an ornate palace overlooking surprisingly
modern Kuala Lumpur, the nine hereditary sultans of the federated
Malayan states met fortnight ago to hold a thoroughly modern election.
By secret vote of his peers, Sir Hisamuddin Alam Shah, 61, Sultan of
Selangor, was elected to the five-year rotating kingship of independent
Malaya, succeeding the late Tuan-ku Abdul Rahman. Gravely, the new
king, who once operated a sporting-goods store and now raises rare
orchids in his palace gardens, inscribed his name in a silver-bound
book. Last week he went before Malaya's democratically elected
Parliament to announce some good news. Come July,...